Constance "Connie" Rehmann – devoted wife, loving mother, and inspirational granny – passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Vancouver, Washington. She lived life to the fullest, bringing joy, imagination, and music to everyone she met.
She met the love of her life, Jack, in 1948 at St. Andrew High School and married him in 1952. Together they raised their sons in Saginaw before moving to Freeland, where Connie had found 80 acres on which she built their dream home. She loved walking their woods, tending her gardens, and gathering family for celebrations that would culminate in fire-fly hunts and songs around her piano.
Born in 1932 to Bill and Helen Bader in Carrollton Township, Connie delighted in walking the few blocks to St. Josaphat's school and church where her life-long volunteering commitment began. Her service touched innumerable lives. She was active in church ministries, hosted families from Laos and Japan, and regularly visited residents at nursing homes. Whilst raising five boys, she returned to school, earned a degree from SVSU and used it to teach Native American history, launch a Saginaw "Swing Around Tour" business, and volunteer as a music teacher at St. Thomas – as she would say, "just to name a few."
Many knew Connie as an extraordinary singer and pianist. She started playing at age seven and challenged herself with increasingly technical and expressive pieces. She reveled both in playing at home on her grand piano and at concerts, churches, and parties where people gathered around in song. She passed this talent along to her boys (who fondly remember watching her play organ barefoot at Mass). An accomplished soprano, she sang with the Germania Choir, Saginaw Choral Society, and a quartet of friends at both local and international events. Oh, how she loved adventure! She traveled the world with Jack and their kids and families, from Indonesia to Egypt to Costa Rica and everywhere between – finding tchotchkes and saving local cheeses and chocolates wrapped in napkins in her handbag.
Connie's creative spirit demanded expression. She became a Master Gardener and used her green thumb to paint living canvases of color, scent, and texture – backdrops for the many events she hosted. An accomplished seamstress, she sewed clothing, quilts, home decor and more, stitching legacy into every costume and "quiet time" book made for her grandchildren. She held her Polish heritage close, weaving it into the family fabric and baking it into pierogies that were tradition, memory, and celebration in one. Her imagination was boundless, and she filled her home with childhood toys, fairy houses, and endless stories and songs made up on the spot.
A writer at heart, Connie penned parish newsletters, published a short history, and recorded family lore. She wrote to celebrate the beauty of nature, spirituality, and her love for Jack. She mused on paper scraps and type-written pages: countless poems, imaginings, reflections on life, pen-pal letters, and story ideas.
Connie's creative dynamism, infectious laugh, and fierce devotion will be greatly missed.
She was preceded in death by her husband Jack (d. 2022) and is survived by Christopher and Rolawn of Paradise, CA; Susan (Greyerbiehl) Rehmann, wife of Stephen (d. 2016) of Traverse City, MI; James and Jennifer of Bainbridge Island, WA; David and Susan of Camas, WA; and Daniel and Mary of Portland, OR. Her love of learning lives on in 16 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren, who continue to spread her joie de vivre.
A Funeral Liturgy will take place on Saturday, June 21, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. from Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1035 N. River Rd. Saginaw, Rev, Fr. Peter Gaspeny will officiate the service. Entombment to follow in St. Andrew Cemetry. Friends may visit at the church where the family will be present on Saturday, June 21, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. until the time of service. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Holy Spirit Catholic Church of Saginaw or the Saginaw Community Foundation.